Mariela Castro, the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro, will be granted a U.S. visa to attend a conference on lesbian and gay civil rights in Philadelphia in May, a U.S. official tells CNN.

Initially not expected to receive a visa, the official said the case was "looked at again" and "the restriction on her visa has been lifted, which will allow her to travel" to the event on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues.

Mariela Castro is the director of Cuba's National Center for Sex Education and the niece of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Although she is not gay, she has lobbied for gay rights in Cuba, including the right for same-sex couples to marry and for AIDS awareness.
The global conference, sponsored by the Equality Forum, a Philadelphia-based LGBT organization, will highlight the status of gay rights in Cuba.

Contacted by CNN on Monday, the organizers said they had not received official confirmation that Mariela Castro would attend.

She is scheduled to take part in a panel discussion on May 4 and to receive an award from the Equality Forum as an "International Ally for LGBT Equality."

There is not one good reason on earth that the U.S. and Cuba cannot normalize relations and move on, none at all! Our current policy toward Cuba is nothing but stupidity at it's very worst! Back in 2009, Raul Castro offered to Barack Obama to release some 219 political prisoners in Cuba in exchange for 5 Cuban nationals held here on charges which they may or may not be guilty of. For the sake of being politically correct, Obama blithely ignored the whole thing!

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